Circuit-closer for electric railroad-signals



(ModeL) v O. J. MEANS. Circuit Closer for Electric Railroad'Signals.

Pate nted March 22,1881;

N. PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGYON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. MEANS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CIRCUIT-CLOSER FOR ELECTRIC RAILROAD-SIGNALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 239,107, dated March 22, 1881.

Application filed January 3, 1881. (ModeL) To all whom t't may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. MEANS, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Circuit-Closers for Electric Railroad-Signals, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to that class of circuit-closers in which the circuit is closed by the electrical contact of the wheels of a passin g train with a metallic ,bar arranged by the side of and parallel to the rails, said bar being connected to one end of an electric circuit whose other end is grounded. It isdesirable that this circuit-closing bar, in order to insure its .bein g always in the proper position to make proper contact with the wheels of a train, should be elastic or yielding, and this has heretofore been effected by supporting each extremity of the bar upon a block of insulating material and depending upon the elasticity of the bar to return it to its normal position after being depressed. I have found, however,

in practice, that with this arrangement the.

elasticity of the bar is not permanent, as it becomes bent or sagged by the frequent pressure of the wheels of passing trains.

The object of my present invention is to render such contact-bar permanently yielding throughout its entire length, and yet always insure its return to its normal position after its depression. I accomplish this by firmly securing to the contact-bar, at intervals throughout its entire length, metallic spring-bars, as hereinafter more fully set forth, which allow the bar to yield to the wheels ofa passing train, and yet are so arranged that there is no possibility of their becoming permanently sagged or bent. The bars of metal also serve another purpose. By presenting considerable surface to the earth they form a partial ground, by which all currents of atmospheric electricity escape to the ground without injuring the magnets of the signaling-instrument in the circuit. There will not, however, be sufficient escape of thelow-tension battery-currents to affect the apparatus.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a section of the same through the line a: so, in larger size.

Referring to these figures, A is a steel contact-bar about nine feet long, one and one-half inch wide, and one-fourth inch thick.

B B B B ,&c.,areright-angled steel bars,ot' similar metal to the bar A, the short legs of which areriveted to the barAby rivetsa a. The otherextremities are bolted to the under side of a two-inch plank, 0,.which extends the entire lengt-l'i of the bar A. 1

D D are blocks of wood or metal, which sypport the plank O, and are of sufficient height to bring the top of the bar A about one-fourth inch above the top of. the rail E.

It will be seen that by this arrangement the length of the bars B B, 850., will allow the contact-bar to yield as the wheels of a train pass over it and take the position shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, thus dispensing with the use of rubber or other sprin gs.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The wheels of a passing train, rubbing along the top of the steel contact-bar A, make 'an electrical connection of the wheel and bar that closes the electric circuit, the wire I) from CHARLES J. MEANS.

Witnesses:

E. F. WEBSTER, THEO. HOWARD.

of December, 

